Rob Ford's apology was sincere, moving ... and factually inaccurate

On Tuesday afternoon, having had a full day to ponder how to respond to Justice Charles Hackland’s order removing him from office for violating the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act (MCIA), Toronto Mayor Rob Ford gave a prepared statement at city hall. To the surprise of many Ford-watchers, the mayor also took the opportunity to apologize for the entire affair.

Good for him. Ford is known for his stubbornness and inability to admit to mistakes. His apology wasn’t exactly unequivocal — he conceded that “maybe” he should have acted differently and apologized only to anyone “who believes I should have done this differently.” But what it may have lacked in directness, it made up for sincerity. Rob Ford has rarely seemed as beaten down, as upset and — is this even possible? — as humble as he did Tuesday. Those close to the Mayor have quietly confirmed to me that he is indeed deeply shaken by this affair, and very upset by the prospect that he might lose his job in the next 12 days. Ford, and those in his inner circle, did not expect this outcome. It has been a massive shock to their systems.

One thing that is uncontested is the nature of the vote that Ford wrongly participated in

TTC chair Karen Stintz hinted strongly Wednesday that she would consider running in a byelection to replace Mayor Rob Ford, should he fail in his appeal of a judge’s removal order — adding her name to a growing list of potential candidates.

Rumours circulated Wednesday that Councillor Doug Ford may be planning to step into the mayor’s shoes if efforts fail to keep his brother in place.

As he stood before the cameras, carefully sticking to his prepared (and no doubt legally vetted) remarks, it was easy to be reminded of why many like Ford. He is without guile or subterfuge. Love him or hate him, what you see is what you get. And what you got was a man over his head, belatedly realizing how serious the situation he finds himself in truly is. It was, in short, easy to feel sympathy for Ford.

But it was also easy to see the genesis of his downfall. As I wrote here previously, Rob Ford, and his brother Councillor Doug Ford, have a bad habit of acting as if the universe was as they would prefer it to be, rather than how it actually is. On Monday night, that had Doug Ford hitting the airwaves on Toronto talk-radio stations to say that the judge’s ruling — and the Municipal Conflict of Interest Act that the mayor violated — said that Rob Ford couldn’t raise money for needy kids.

Wrong. Factually wrong. Neither the judge’s ruling or the MCIA say anything even remotely close to that. Ford, and anyone else, is perfectly entitled to raise money for needy kids, not-so-needy kids, rich kids, cute dogs, ugly dolphins … whatever. They just have to do so within the laws and regulations that govern the conduct of elected officials. Why is that so hard?

And Rob Ford himself, in his apology, joined his brother on his jaunt through the Twilight Zone with this gem: “I never believed there was a conflict of interest because I had nothing to gain and the city had nothing to lose.”

Ford, and those in his inner circle, did not expect this outcome. It has been a massive shock to their systems

Also factually wrong, on one critical point. It’s true that the city had nothing to lose in the matter, as Ford’s misconduct did not involve city monies. But it is completely untrue that Ford had nothing to gain. The matter that he voted on, improperly according to the MCIA, was to spare Ford the need to repay $3,150 out of his own pocket. The $3,150 was money that Ford had collected for his charity, improperly, according to the city integrity’s commissioner.

And that’s the key point. There’s a lot of complicated legal matters that need to be settled here, not to mention some question of regulations and procedure. But one thing that is uncontested is the nature of the vote that Ford wrongly participated in — if the motion passed, Ford didn’t have to write a cheque for three grand. If it didn’t pass, he’d be out three grand. Can someone please explain how, in Ford’s mind, this constitutes “nothing to gain”? He had $3,150 to gain.

Ford says he’s going to appeal. And if he loses the appeal, that he intends to run again. So a political career remains in his future. If he wants to continue being “the respect the taxpayers” guy, respecting their intelligence and admitting the facts of this whole sad affair is a good place to start.